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Deadlines of All Kinds Loom for State Attorney General

With less than two months to go before the state primary and only
minutes before he is due at a political fundraiser, Massachusetts
attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Thomas F. Reilly
is more worried about his next 24 hours as a Red Sox fan.

"Any trades yet?" Mr. Reilly asked Sunday afternoon,
less than one day until Major League Baseball's trading deadline.
"Do we have any new pitchers?"

They are fitting questions for a Massachusetts native caught up in
the frenzy of one of Boston's biggest sporting attractions. But it
happens that Mr. Reilly is also in the thick of the state's other
biggest sporting attraction: politics. He is entering the final stretch
of his campaign for governor, in which he is seeking the Democratic
nomination over fellow candidates Chris Gabrieli and Deval Patrick. This
weekend Mr. Reilly was on the Island to raise money for the cause, as
well as to visit longtime friend Wayne Budd. On Sunday he sat down with
the Gazette on the porch of Mr. Budd's Oak Bluffs home for a brief
interview.

"The state is going in the wrong direction," he said.
"We've lost 150,000 jobs since 2001, we're 45th in
this country in job growth, we're the only state in this entire
nation to lose population in the last two years, and many of those who
are leaving are between the ages of 25 and 35. They are our future, and
our future is literally leaving this state."

The reasons for this decline, he said, rest squarely on the
shoulders of the current governor, Mitt Romney, who he said focused too
much on presidential ambitions while failing to deliver on his campaign
promises.

"The bottom line is that he hasn't gotten the job
done," Mr. Reilly said. "He came in and promised to grow
this economy and create jobs, and he didn't get that done. He
promised to increase the supply of housing in the state and didn't
get that done. He's become divisive and partisan. It's time
for a governor who's committed and a governor you can count on.

"We've had 16 straight years of Republican governors and
not one of them has stayed around long enough to finish the job,"
he added.

If he sounds like a typical politician bleating out the typical
political speech, don't be fooled: Mr. Reilly's passion for
the state he has lived in his whole life quietly and quickly comes to
the surface, erasing any question of insincerity. Born and raised in
Springfield, Mr. Reilly takes pride in his rise to achievement from a
difficult childhood. After deciding to continue high school (a decision
he says Mr. Budd's father was instrumental in helping him make),
he attended American International College before being accepted to
Boston College Law School. He went on to work as the Middlesex County
district attorney, and has been the chief law enforcement officer in the
state since January 1999.

On Sunday, Mr. Reilly talked at length about public education, his
personal connection to it and how it has become a cornerstone of his
campaign.

"The power of education is something I am a strong believer in
- and public education all the way through public higher education
is a priority of mine," he said. "There really hasn't
been a governor that had public higher education as a priority.

"One of the things I will do is invest $500 million in the
research and development capabilities of the University of Massachusetts
at all of the campuses, to help them become incubators for creative
ideas and turn those ideas into jobs. We need to forecast where this
economy is going. I believe the small business sector is the key to our
economic growth in Massachusetts. We need identify the companies that
are already here - how do we help them grow? What are the things
that they need? Is it infrastructure? Is it a workforce?" he said,
continuing:

"Our public education system is not aligned with the workforce
needs of our economy right now. We have to make sure that happens and
we're lacking students coming out of our schools that have degrees
in engineering and technology and nursing. There's no
alignment."

Along with education, Mr. Reilly spoke about the state's need
for a long-term strategic plan, which he said would also be one of his
administration's top goals.

"Growth, development, housing, education - that is what
is important to the quality of life and the future of
Massachusetts," he said. "It's not just big business.
The key to the future of this economy is innovation. We're on the
cutting edge of life sciences and bio-technology, and we have to build
off those strengths. Education has always been the key and that's
what has generated the ideas and creative abilities that have sustained
our economy for generations."

Among those ideas, he believes, are new solutions in alternative
energies for future generations. That should not, however, include
projects like the controversial Cape Wind offshore turbine project.

"It's not a wind farm - it is a power plant, right
in the middle of Nantucket Sound, and we should pass it on to future
generations the way it is now," he said. "But there is a
right way to do things, and not this way, which is really nothing more
than a giveaway to a private developer for absolutely nothing. It is
important to me that Nantucket Sound has been designated an ocean
sanctuary by Massachusetts and that should be honored and respected
- and it should be off-limits."

Mr. Reilly also has plans to protect the state's youth from
gang violence and crime, which he said has risen steadily in recent
years, by returning to an emphasis on community policing. Mending the
rift between the state and local governments is another item on his
checklist.

"The first thing Mr. Romney did was cut budgets dramatically
and cut local aid dramatically, and it hurt everything from basic
infrastructure to school aid at a time when there was a tremendous
burden on cities and towns to maintain public safety," he said.
"I strongly believe in a new and different relationship between
state government and local communities - where the local
communities are not only heard but are given a strong voice in projects
they consider important and in the ways to do it," he said.

"This administration has totally fallen down with respect to
the basic relationship between state government and local cities and
towns throughout the state. We have to restore that aid and we have to
rebuild that relationship."

Turning to the Vineyard, where he said he has enjoyed tremendous
support throughout his career, Mr. Reilly noted its uniqueness but also
drew some comparisons to the rest of Massachusetts.

"I know housing is an issue that is affecting the Island, but
it is affecting the entire state as well," he said. "But it
is especially critical to maintain and preserve the character of
Martha's Vineyard. It's a special place, and it's all
a question of balance, of preserving that special character. There are a
lot of factors that go into it, and housing is one of them.

"Just walking around you see the diversity that makes the
Island special," he continued. "The people here love
Massachusetts as much as I love it, and they love their Island even
better. I live on the second floor of a two-decker in Watertown, which
is much like places on the Vineyard - it's not rich, and not
poor. They want a governor who understands what they're up against
and understands how hard they are working and can't get ahead.
Whether it is higher gasoline prices, electricity prices, they need some
hope in the future."

And with a smile, he acknowledged that may indeed become his
greatest uphill battle.

"It's a battle worth having, and that's how I feel
about the state," he added. "I am running because I care
about Massachusetts and I am not going to sit back and watch it continue
to go in the direction that it's going. We're losing jobs,
losing population, and I believe I can make a difference. It's not
in me to sit this out when the future of this state is at stake."